"Selling a home is not an easy task. Most people prefer to have a broker do it for them." -- Mitchell Hall

This, I agree with. It's likely to be much harder than it looks. I'm just an ordinary consumer when it comes to real estate buying and selling. But I'm also aware that there are aspects of transactions that are foreign to me, and there are potential pitfalls. As such, I'm not likely to "go it alone" when it comes to selling my home. However, I am likely to do some of the tasks associated with buying my next home. It doesn't matter what those tasks are for this conversation - suffice it to say that there are slivers of activity that I might be more qualified to do than a real estate agent, and at less cost. Hold that thought...

Transparency and Disintermediation

There are other market parallels that have survived in the face of rampant transparency and [some] disintermediation. Many people still have stock brokers, some people still pay slightly more to have a travel professional. But in these cases [where transparency has reshaped entire industries], one thing is abundantly clear - historical transaction costs have fallen. It doesn't mean stocks or travels costs less - it just means market topologies have been reshaped; certain aspects of industries that were once very relevant, are now irrelevant.

But it's important to note that the Internet's ability to rapidly dis-intermediate entire business sectors is really just a capability that may or may not be a good idea for any given market. The outcome (or forecast outcome) - i.e., what may happen because of this capability and why transparency leads to irrelevance - is the more important aspect that the real estate industry should pay attention to.

Transparency is no Guarantee of Disintermediation

Transparency *may* lead to disintermediation, but it may not; it depends on how consumers react to the pervasive availability of information in markets where the information has traditionally been inaccessible. My view is that the degree with which disintermediation actually impacts any business segment has little to do with how transparent the information becomes, and mostly to do with how irrelevant business providers become under the new light cast through increased transparency.

Disclaimer - I'm certainly not qualified to predict what will happen in real estate, but I have a hunch that there are two dimensions of transparency that may each create irrelevance independently and to different degrees.

The pervasive access to information relating to the selling of a home;

The pervasive access to information relating to the buying of a home;

Unlike say the travel industry, we consume airline seats for a specific period of time. However, we rarely sell an airline seat -- save the occasional bump in exchange for some economic advantage. Stocks, on the other hand, are more like real estate - we buy them and sell them. And even in this multi-dimensional market of activity, the stock buying and selling industry has been significantly reshaped.

"New Yorkers are not looking to dis-intermediate." - Mitchell Hall

I agree with this comment as well - no consumer wants to dis-intermediate. But all consumers want to optimize wealth which is synonymous with controlling costs. Regardless of how Mitchell shapes this statement, transaction costs will probably fall - the only question remaining - who will benefit?

The real estate industry should not confuse the threat of disintermediation with the risk of becoming irrelevant to it's customers. While your industry may seem like it's under attack by companies like Google, Trulia, and Zillow, these are simply artifacts of market forces that are attempting to seek lower transaction costs. Some of these ideas will fail, and some will succeed. But as I said earlier, transaction costs will most certainly fall - not because consumers believe you are overcharging them - but because they can be achieved at lower cost. The businesses that manifest ways to lower transaction costs will be the likely benefactors, just as the businesses that create (or sustain) relevance given the new market topology will also emerge as highly competitive leaders.

I believe that real estate's challenge is to identify it's own future relevance given the likelihood that greater information transparency will reshape some (perhaps many) of the present transaction inefficiencies. Could the answer be that simple? ;-)

Bill very good post with good observations. How is all of this going to affect Real Estate? I wish I knew the answer to that. My business is working with sellers in an affordable housing market. Most of my sellers do not even own computers. So maybe I won't be affected as much as others. I find that no matter how much info the consumer can find, they still need a pro to guide them through the process. And actually there is so much info available now that people need guidance even more so.

Maybe our value will come in being able to lead folks through all the available options. I mean let's face it, to the novice (me included) just because the info is there, it doesn't mean we have the ability or desire to weed through it. It can be over whelming. Selling or buying a house is stressful enough without adding in all the additional stress of trying to decide which way to go. This is the area where Realtors can continue to add value.

So for me, I am going to continue to learn as much as I can about technology. I want to be able to bring a level of expertise to the table that the consumer is not able to acquire on their own. And most importantly, remember that as Realtors we are not selling properties we are selling ourselves. I may not be able to compete with the web but the reality is, the web does not have a personality and therefore cannot compete with me. That is my ace in the hole:) Folks still want to feel good about themselves and their decisions and only a person can give them this "feel good" feeling. And for this, they will pay.

Everything you said indicates your concern for remaining relevant with your constituents. Part of me says the [seemingly] great disintermediation problem facing the real estate industry is cured with this very simple attitude. There are much deeper things to ponder - agility, discoverability, knowledge of the new topology, but at the heart of this issue there's seems to be one aspect that's indesputable - customer relevance.

"And actually there is so much info available now that people need guidance even more so."

Providing information about information is one of the best ways to remain relevant. ;-)

In the two and half years I've run ActiveRain (we had products before this network), I've learned more than I ever wanted to know about real estate. All that knowledge doesn't make me want to go and purchase or sell my house without an agent, in fact it's the opposite. I realize how complex the transaction is, and how much having a competent agent helps.

In this industry, to survive, we have to become merchants of excellence.

I don't believe trading stocks is equivalent to buying and selling homes, nor do I believe the travel industry can be similarly compared .

My solution to disintermediation:

It is my tendency to seek excellence in whatever I apply myself to. This can be real estate, but more specific than that, I apply myself to caring deeply about the needs of my clients, finding out exactly what it is they want, learning even what interaction style works for them, and I adjust, adjust, adjust! I completely cater to my clients. I pay attention to minute things and don't worry about "power" struggles or little things over which I could disagree.

I don't pass on all info about the transaction to my clients. If something problematic comes up, I try to take care of it, and only if I can't resolve it do I approach my clients already with a solution prepared. I remain calm. Even if something is worth panicking about, I don't bring my panicky self to the table. Clients want to know they are going to be taken care of. They want the agent to handle the details. They don't want to stress about every little thing!

I make sure in every way possible that their home buying and selling experience goes down shockingly smooth. To agents who think negotiating is about arguing about everything, I say, "Don't do that!!!!" Be diplomatic, not contentious. Pimp yourself out, if you have to, but minimize as much stress as you can for clients. That is what they pay us for (my opinion here). Working with an agent is a luxury. I can get my tires at costco, or I can get them at the dealer. We are the dealer. So the service better be amazing!!!

I have had clients choose me over discount brokers and specifically tell me that even though they could save money, they like my service and level of expertise more. I've heard the same thing as a loan officer, before I got into real estate. If people like how you do business and you make the process a fantastic experience, I think a good following with choose you even if they could have gotten someone to do the job for less.

Know who you're competing with, too! As a loan officer, I called up the credit union one my my clients was shopping me against and spoke with them specifically about the loan program. It was a portfolio program and thus why they could offer a lower rate. But I also learned that to get your loan done, you never had a flesh and blood loan officer who worked for you, but hourly paid and sad sounding customer service reps who were only available from such ans such time and were located out of state! (Much in the same manner as when you call your credit card....)

Bill, I don't see disintermediation as a problem. I see it as a reality and also as a good thing for exactly the reasons I mentioned and the reason Matt just mentioned. It is "overwhelming" and makes my services as a Realtor even more valuable. AR, to me, is a perfect example of how this can be used to our advantage. The consumer, being able to see behind the scenes, "transparency", and being bombarded by the info they can find on this site, (disintermediation), are going to appreciate, what we as Realtors do, even more. The complexities of a Real Estate transaction will become more apparent and hopefully our services will become more valuable instead of less valuable. There is no replacement for experience. And that is what I bring to the table.

I think certain aspects of disintermediation are currently present and will remain in the marketplace. There are Internet Jocks who think they can accomplish everything they need to do without the value-added perspective of a seasoned Realtor. That's fine. I will still be in the business when they need to sell upside down and show up at closing with a check to satisfy the first trust.

Transparency can and should work to you advantage. I've used it in my business for 12 years when describing what I do. It actually shows the tremendous value we have.

1- First I show terms offered by a big national bank who uses our nation's name in it's title.

2- Then I show the "wholesale rate" that they offer me and calculate the bank's "profit"

3- The fee I charge for arranging loans is usually 30-50% lower than the bank's profit .

The amazing things is that transparency WORKS in building value. This is why I recommend a "menu of services" approach to pricing your services. Of course, customers in general (and I believe Manhattanites, specifically since they're all traders at heart) will want the best service for the lowest "pricing plan". This is where the true salesmanship comes in in building value for your fees.

I have to agree with Matt here. Having a wealth of experience in various aspects of real estate has only made me realize that I want an expert to close on my real estate transactions.

I'm a professional and this logic applies to every project I am serious about. If I need a designer, I don't brush up on my old graphic skills I learned in college... I hire a professional. If I need a database developer, I don't code it myself... I hire an expert to do it.

There will always be a market for mass-commerce fast food, but there will always be a market for five star dining. The question real estate professionals need to focus on is what client market do they want to compete in?

"All that knowledge doesn't make me want to go and purchase or sell my house without an agent, in fact it's the opposite. I realize how complex the transaction is, and how much having a competent agent helps."

"Having a wealth of experience in various aspects of real estate has only made me realize that I want an expert to close on my real estate transactions."

Sure you do - you have perfect knowledge. Unfortunately you both [and I] don't represent a good cross section of the market segment.

Sara -

"I don't believe trading stocks is equivalent to buying and selling homes, nor do I believe the travel industry can be similarly compared."

Neither do I. I didn't suggest either were equivalent - I only said they are good parallels to better understand buy-side and sell-side similarites. However, they each represent business segments that were disrupted in much the same way that real estate is presently being disrupted.

Barry -

"There will always be a market for mass-commerce fast food, but there will always be a market for five star dining."

Perhaps, but what if the machinery for manufacturing a five star dining experience became so refined that the marginal cost differential narrowed to the point where it was about the same as fast food? How would that change the topology of the dining market?

What if the machinery for buying and selling homes became so optimized that all commissions were cut in half? Setting aside the fact that a significant number of buyers would start to shift to the discount model (fast food side), how many would be left to pay for the five star meal?

I liken this comment to one that I ponder frequently - in 2014 it is predicted that about 20,000 people (elderly for the most part) will still pay for the NYTimes to be printed on real newsprint. It will be regarded as a newsletter for "old money". Why? The cost of manufacturing smart paper will be less than real paper. Indeed, the transaction cost of delivering news in 2014 will be so cheap that newspaper will become an unaffordable option - good tidings for tree lovers everywhere.

The same will happen to other industries - the Internet has a habit of seeking out transaction costs that have the biggest fluff factor. Maybe real estate isn't all that "fluffy", or maybe it is. In any case, real estate is being disrupted - the attack is aimed squarely at the transaction costs as it should be. Companies are strategizing for long hours and putting up significant investments to find out how to disrupt the current model.

Consider - Google rarely plots ten year product strategies to enter a multi-billion dollar market and there's only fleeting evidence that they are interested in the real estate segment.

In 2001 they leaked a few labs projects to see how data attributes could contribute to search and dscovery.

In 2003 they officially launched Google Base - an attempt to harden the idea of market-drive submission of name-value pairs.

In 2004 they started to play with API's making it possible to integrate geo-location data with Google Base data.

In 2005 they establish a schema for real estate data.

In 2006 they release Google Real Estate - a first cut to integrate Base, Maps, and API's to see how the market would react.

For Google Real Estate to exist - all these other components had to first exist - this demonstrates a great deal of foresight and planning.

I think there's more opportunity for client-agent cooperation. Some sellers can advertise and market better than we can; some buyers want to schlep hundreds of miles to do drive-bys.

Isn't it the old Time vs. Money? We bring to the table our expertise, our sorting through the mountain of information, the knowledge of a community and an area, the sense of what will fit with the client, the advocacy, the counsel. Some clients want this, some want a cheaper price. We never were able to be everything to everybody, nor do we want to be. Choose your position - then let the clients choose theirs.

I think that may be one dimension of customer relevance. Some customers probably don't value their time like others, but those customers that have little time, or choose to do other things with their time, are certainly looking for a different bundle of real estate goods.

You can find successful parallels in many industries. For example - auto parts. There are millions of people that change their own oil or maintain the their own automobile engines. Some do it to save money (a false optimization indeed), and others do it because they just like doing it. I have better things to do on a Saturday morning besides sitting on a bar stool at NAPA Auto Parts. ;-)

Another good one is your website or blogsite. We charge for our blogsite services about the same that your Lexus dealer will lease you a car. But there are far [seemingly] cheaper approaches to blogging, just as there are far cheaper alternatives to car leasing. Some people like driving cheap cars, some don't. Some people like the rewarding feeling they get by learning a blog template language and spending lots of time manicuring and understanding the technology and how the machinery of the blogosphere works. There are false economies in both markets - a cheap car may send the wrong signal if you're showing a 10 million dollar home, just as a near-free business blog running on a domain populated by mostly spammy blogs affiliated with gambling, porn, and ringtones will send a bad signal.

I think the key (as said many times in this thread) is understanding your target audience and creating services that differentiate you from other agents/brokers while at the same time leveraging the new transparency.

Imagine a service that manufactures a personalized web page (for each prospect) that draws from all the data available that is relevant to a specific buyers needs. This would save (the prospect) me a bunch of time, deomnstrate to the prospect that you care about my needs, while still embracing the transparency shift in real estate. Distilling information for customers seems to be a key success factor in any industry that is being disrupted.

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